Rusty Lane Movies

Future movie-studio executive Tony Bill is cast as halfbreed Charlie Two, who has sworn to killi the Cartwrights to avenge the hanging of his father Charlie Monahan. Hoping to dissuade Charlie, Joe Cartwright adopts an alias and accompanies the boy on his journeys. In the course of events, the two men find that they have a lot more in common than meets the eye. First broadcast on November 20, 1966, "The Oath" was written by Sidney Ellis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jason (Chuck Connors) rides into a small town to visit Frank Allison (John Anderson), who once saved his life. Unfortunately, the reunion is neither happy nor lengthy: Allison is scheduled to be hanged the next day. It now falls to Jason to prevent Allison's embittered son Lon (Beau Bridges) from exacting revenge against the townsfolk for his father's execution. Featured in the cast is Whitney Blake, the mother of actress Meredith Baxter and the co-creator (with husband Alan Manings) of the long-running sitcom One Day at a Time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Youngblood Hawke (James Franciscus) is a Kentucky truck driver who comes to New York City to make it as a writer. He meets editor Jeanne Green (Suzanne Pleshette), who sees talent in Hawke's work. Jeanne falls for the handsome Kentuckian and helps him put together a book deal. His first book is only moderately successful, but his confidence is lifted when veteran actress Irene Perry (Mary Astor) wants to make his story into a Broadway play. Hawke soon discovers he is desired by many women, and the heartbroken Jeanne takes a job at another publishing company. His second book makes Hawke the toast of the town and the New York social elite. When Hawke has an affair with the married socialite Frieda Winter (Genevieve Page), her husband Paul (Kent Smith) discovers his wife's infidelity and sets out to ruin Hawke's career. His third book bombs, Frieda's son kills himself over his mother's affair, and Hawke's financial fortune takes a severe nosedive. He returns to Kentucky to work on his next book, but he contracts pneumonia before realizing that Jeanne is the woman he really loves. Good supporting performances from Werner Klemperer, Don Porter, Eva Gabor, and Edward Andrews along with the principle characters make this sentimental melodrama a success. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Two years after the success of The Interns (1962) came this follow-up tale of medical interns during their first year working in a hospital. Ranging from comedy to melodrama, three main stories are woven around the principal characters. Functioning as the group's advisor, Dr. Alec Considine spends much of his time chasing women--one of which (an early role from Barbara Eden) may or may not wrangle a ring from him. Then there is a struggling married couple (played by Stefanie Powers and Dean Jones) who must face the possibility of never having children. Thirdly, Dr. Tony Parelli (George Segal in his film debut), coming from a gritty past, falls in love with social worker Nancy (Inger Stevens). Unfortunately Nancy has recently been sexually brutallized by three violent men and does not respond favorably to Dr. Parelli's attentions. Also starring are Telly Savalas and Kay Stevens, who, with Powers and Callan, appeared in the original and more successful Interns. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

The only episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour directed by Hitchcock himself (though he'd previously helmed several of the anthology's half-hour installments), "I Saw the Whole Thing" draws its suspense from the reliability -- or lack of reliability -- of eyewitness testimony. Arrested on suspicions of causing a fatal car accident, mystery writer Michael Barnes (John Forsythe) insists upon acting as his own attorney. Five witnesses insist under oath that they saw Barnes run a stop sign -- and in each case, Barnes discredits their testimony by proving that the witnesses only thought they saw what they saw, based on their own experiences and personal prejudices. Things take an unexpected turn when a sixth witness offers a sixth version of the accident. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blaming his daughter Sally (Anne Whitfield) for the death of her brother, Pa Ellis (George Mitchell) forces the girl out of their home. Soon, however, Pa regrets his harsh words and begs her to come back. And on a dark and stormy night some seven years later, a truck driver (Pat McCaffrie) picks up a hitchhiking Sally, follows her directions, and takes her home--where a shocking surprise awaits him. This classic episode was inspired by the centuries-old legend "The Vanishing Hitchhiker." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode was based on an earlier Rod Serling TV play, in which a losing baseball team was saved by a 70-year-old pitcher. In the Twilight Zone version of this yarn, the old man was transformed into a muscular robot named Casey (Robert Sorrell), who comes to the rescue of the cellar-dwelling ball club skippered by Mouth McGarry. Winning game after game, Casey ultimately comes acropper when he suddenly develops human emotions -- and an unwillingness to see anyone lose a ball game! When first filmed in mid-1959, "The Mighty Casey" starred Paul Douglas as Mouth McGarry. Unfortunately, Douglas was in the last stages of the devastating illness that would kill him, and the producers were uncomfortable with his appearance on the screen. After Douglas' death, the episode was refilmed with Jack Warden as McGarry, with Alvin Ganzer taking over the directorial reins from Robert Parrish. "The Mighty Casey" finally aired June 17, 1960, as the next-to-last Twilight Zone of the 1959-60 season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tom Wyatt (John Hudson) might have become rich by inventing a cure for a rare fish disease called gilled fever, but for the fact that his boss Jackson Hurley (Murvyn Vye) took credit for the invention. Thus, when Hurley is murdered, Lt. Tragg (Ray Collins) charges Wyatt with the crime. In his efforts to prove Wyatt's innocence, Perry (Raymond Burr) has a fascinating interview with the dead man's curvaceous secretary. Featured in the cast are such Hollywood favorites as Cecil Kellaway and May Wynn, the latter best known for playing a character named May Wynn (!) in The Caine Mutiny (1954). This episode is adapted from The Case of the Gold Digger's Purse, a novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed for the first season of Have Gun--Will Travel, this episode ultimately served as the opener for Season Two (though some sources list its original air date as September 27, 1958). Hired to capture fugitive Jimmy Dawes (David Whorf) and bring him to trial in Kansas City, Paladin (Richard Boone) is forced to kill the boy in self-defense. Riding into Jimmy's home town of Promise, Paladin finds that everyone thinks he is a murderer, including Sheriff Truett (Joseph Calleia)--and that no one would mind too much if the gunslinger was himself killed by Jimmy's vengeful brothers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Vicki Gaye (Cyd Charisse) is a dancer at a night club in early 1930's Chicago. A healthy cynic who still possesses some ideals, she entertains no illusions about the "invitation" (or the $100 that goes with it) that she gets to a party hosted by mob kingpin Rico Angelo (Lee J. Cobb) -- but she still won't let Angelo's head torpedo Louis Canetto (John Ireland) get near her. Angelo's attorney Thomas Farrell (Robert Taylor) is another story -- he's a more complicated than the men he defends, and still enough of an idealist so that when he and Vicki cross swords about who is the worse hypocrite, it actually affects him. Farrell, whose right leg has been crippled from birth and getting worse, took the easy way to success by pursuing a criminal practice, including getting Canetto off a murder rap -- but after meeting Vicki he starts to see another path to take, and also embarks on a year of surgical procedures to cure the worst of the pain in his leg. And he comes out a new man, with a new plan in life, including starting over in a practice that doesn't involve criminal law. But Angelo plans on having Farrell fight an old friend, prosecutor Jeffrey Stewart (Kent Smith), who is trying to indict Angelo's associate Cooky La Motte (Corey Allen). Farrell resists, until Angelo threatens to harm Vicki -- and when the case and the trail blow up in both sides' faces, he finds himself caught between the mob and the law, with Vicki urging him to do the right thing. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

In this western two wagon masters are wrongfully accused of driving their wagon train in to a Comanche raid and are sentenced to hang. Now they must work hard and fast to prove their innocence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Housewife Mabel McKay (Judith Evelyn) obsesses over her favorite movie star Marsha Mason, even insisting that she and Marsha look exactly alike. Fed up with her delusional behavior, Mabel's husband Henry (Robert Emhardt) tells her that she's crazy. The outraged Mabel kills Henry and tries to cover up the crime -- until she arrives at the conclusion that the best way to "become" Marsha Mason is to act upon the principle that any publicity is good publicity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide